Developing a Herbal Cocktail for prevention of Stroke and cerebrovascular diseases

Abstract

Natural herbs have long been used in food supplements to promote health as healthy alternative to the various conditions/diseases as preventive medicine. A variety of herbs and prescriptions have been demonstrated to have neuroprotective effects in vivo and in vitro that may be relevant to the treatment of stroke.

The present study carried out to investigate the development of hyperlipidemia in response to a high fat diet (HFD) and to estimate the effect of 70% ethanolic extracts for herbal cocktail (Artemisia Judaica 50mg/kg B.wt, Panax ginseng 50mg/kg B.wt, Salvia officinalis 100mg/kg B.wt and Polygonum multiflorum 400mg/kg B.wt) on lipid profiles, oxidative stress markers, and inflammatory mediators in blood and liver tissue in rats. The anti-hyperlipidemic and antioxidant effect of herbal cocktail were studied high fat diet induced hyperlipidemic rats. Serum total lipid (TL), cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), LDL and oxidative stress marker (MDA, GSSG, NO and 8-OH-dG) were significantly lowered by herbal cocktail. Herbal cocktail increased the activities of reduced glutathione (GSH) and HDL while significantly decreasing inflammatory mediators (TNF-α, IL1-β and IL-6). It could be concluded that HFD induced hyperlipidemia associated with a disturbed lipid profile, defective antioxidant stability, and high values of inflammatory mediators; this may have implications for the progress of obesity related problems. Treatment with individual herb and herbal cocktail improve obesity and its associated metabolic syndrome problems. Herbal cocktail has hypolipidaemic and antioxidant effects. Moreover, herbal cocktail might be a safe combination on the organs whose functions were examined, as a way to surmount the obesity state; and it has a distinct anti-obesity effect.

Keywords: Artemisia Judaica, Panax ginseng, Salvia officinalis, Polygonum multiflorum, Antiobesity and High fat diet.